What is a language?
A language is a system of communication used by a specific community. Nearly everyone speaks (or signs) at least one language. Speaking only one language, or monolingualism, is common in many parts of the English-speaking world such as North America, the UK and Australia. However, a much larger number of the world’s population live in countries where multiple languages are spoken throughout the day.
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It seems that nothing frustrates learners of a foreign language more than idioms. Idioms are those phrases that cannot be translated directly from one language to another. They often involve turns of phrase, animals, colors or emotions in strange combinations!
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A number of German words have made their way into the English language. Some of them we accept as a matter of course as they have been around for a long time. Others, have come into English rather recently. While most words maintain the same or similar meaning some change their meaning slightly when transplanted from one language to another. For example, the word angst. Below you will find a list of common German words and phrases used in English.
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Historically, German and English have shared a number of similar or even identically spelled words such as:
der Student, das Haus, die Maus, die Medizin
This is due to the fact that both languages stem from a common proto-Germanic language as well as the fact that they have imported words from the same languages such as French. Over time, these words have come to be part of each language without people giving much thought to it. However, in recent history a large number of English words have been adopted by German speakers, especially the youth culture.
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